With Labor Day behind us, the curtain is rising on another season of the award-winning drama series, “City Council Elections.” Candidates and Residents alike may want to take note that City Council’s record of accomplishment periodically attracts the attention of leading academics and Nobel Laureates.... Continue
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There are those who believe there are two types of people, wolves and sheep. According to this view, we are divided into two camps: predators and prey. In the animal world, this commonly is true, populations of prey vastly outnumbering predators. These large populations support... Continue
Justice relies upon blame, and blame relies upon declaring effective cause. Effective cause is one of four types of causation, according to Plato, the others being material cause, formal cause and total cause. When to comes to matters of human affairs, effective cause is the... Continue
The closure of the Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC) has been slowly happening over the last many years. The process has always been challenging, as the location has been a constant presence in the lives of patients, parents, workers, and Sonoma Valley residents. It is only... Continue
Foundations that award grants to nonprofits for the purpose of upgrading their technology have started asking organizations to also submit a technology plan. Since very few nonprofits in Sonoma Valley have an actual technology plan, a best practice in nonprofit management, the time might be... Continue
The soaring melody of a mockingbird's song, the terrible cries of a small child being separated from parents seeking asylum; is it possible to reconcile experiences of such beauty and horror? Openness to and awareness of the world that surrounds us simultaneously exhilarates and wounds;... Continue
It’s almost September and three-quarters of the year will soon be gone. As with any responsibly run enterprise, it’s not too early to ask: How are we doing on last year’s New Year’s Resolutions? Any progress since all that Happy Holidays Hope-y Change-y stuff? Just... Continue
Lately, some generous and good people are blowing my mind. Maybe it’s because I feel more vulnerable, with the fires and earthquakes and terrible events in the news. I feel more grateful for the good people around me. At the grocery store a friend grabbed... Continue
The Trump Org and its state propaganda arm, Fox News, are attempting to wear down our adrenals and exhaust our attention with a nonstop three-ring circus of nasty, stupid, and inflammatory tweets from the chief executive, systematic and deliberate propagation of falsehoods and distractionary decoy... Continue
Strangely, it seems as if the very forces that could bring us together are tearing us apart. Internationally, the ability to communicate globally and establish common ground is giving way to fragmentation and isolationist policies. Nationally, the values of liberty and equality are giving way... Continue